Arrays of miniature contact stress transducers embedded in the articular cartilage of the hips and knees of fresh cadaver specimens are used to measure the distribution of contact forces in these joints. The transducers are of novel design, and incorporate a layer of piezoresistive elastomer as the sensing element. The transducers can be fabricated to be essentially isocompliant with the articular cartilage, and yield signals which can be conveniently displayed without elaborate signal conditioning circuitry. Oscillatory compressive joint loadings of physiological magnitude and frequency are applied using an Instron testing machine. Twenty-four simultaneous transducer output signals are recorded on storage oscilloscopes, photographed, and automatically digitized. The raw numerical records are then reduced computationally through comparison with individual calibration curves, and are finally displayed in the form of pressure distribution contours and multi-channel time-series records. The entire experimental series consists of forty hip specimens and forty knee specimens free of gross pathology.